While the present invention of belt installation guides can be effectively used in a plurality of different belt configurations, it will be described for clarity as used in electrostatic marking systems such as electrophotography.
By way of background, in marking systems such as Xerography or other electrostatographic processes, a uniform electrostatic charge is placed upon a photoreceptor belt or drum surface. The charged surface is then exposed to a light image of an original to selectively dissipate the charge to form a latent electrostatic image of the original. The latent image is developed by depositing finely divided and charged particles of toner upon the belt or drum photoreceptor surface. The toner may be in dry powder form or suspended in a liquid carrier. The charged toner, being electrostatically attached to the latent electrostatic image areas, creates a visible replica of the original. The developed image is then usually transferred from the photoreceptor surface to a final support material such as paper and the toner image is fixed thereto to form a permanent record corresponding to the original.
In these electrostatic marking systems, a photoreceptor belt or drum surface is generally arranged to move in an endless path through the various processing stations of the Xerographic process. Sometimes, as noted, the photoreceptor or photoconductor surface is in the form of an endless belt and in other systems it is in the form of a drum. In this endless path, several Xerographic-related stations are traversed by the photoconductive belt or drum, becomes worn and in several of these stations various belt configurations in addition to photosensitive belts are used such as transfer belts, pre-fuser transport belts, intermediate transfer belts and the like. Each of these belts is exposed to friction and moved by rollers that provide the belt movement to accomplish the belt purpose. After a while, the belt needs to be replaced. Since the photoreceptor surface is reusable when the toner image is transferred to a final support material such as paper, the surface of the photoreceptor is constantly abraded and cleaned by a blade and/or brushes and prepared to be used once again in the marking process.
Image-carrying belts used in color printing processes can be especially difficult to replace and install. In some machines, the horizontal intermediate transfer belt is over 6-10 feet long. Belt installation requires careful alignment with the belt module to prevent belt damage. At even longer belt lengths, the replacement operation is extremely difficult to install without belt damage occurring.
Even in monochromatic marking systems that use shorter belts for various functions, extreme care must be taken not to damage the belts during installation. In some instances, the belts are constructed of thin flexible polymeric materials that can easily scratch or be damaged during belt replacement or even during original installation.